The Honey Brothers were supposed to arrive at Saturday’s VIP-ish Earth Day Dallas sponsor party in a Fisker. That’s the Porsche of enviro-conscious automobiles, by the way, for those of us who haven’t quite come up with the cash to install solar panels or invest in a zillion-dollar zero emissions vehicle.
Instead, their arrival at the House of Blues-gone-green went like this: members Ari Gold (yes, that’s his real name—he actually inspired the fictional Ari Gold on Entourage) and DS Posner hoofed it from the W hotel, and discussed things like Kim Kardashian’s height and the lemon-sage soap back at the hotel until the other members (including real Entourage star Adrian Grenier) rolled up to the front of the valet line in a black SUV.
If there’s any irony in that, we’ll forgive it. The Honey Brothers—comprised of Andrew Vladeck (Dory Honey), Posner (Dr. J Carl Honey), Gold (Hoyt Honey), Adrian Grenier (Honey DuContra), and Daniel Green (Sonny Honey)—have found plenty of other ways to reduce their respective carbon footprints thanks to the fact that Grenier is a co-founder of SHFT, a multi-media platform dedicated to sustainability.
Take Gold, for example. “I wear short shorts in winter and then everyone around me gets all hot, so they can take off their sweaters and turn off the heat,” he says.
We’re pretty sure he’s kidding. Before we can decide, Posner announces that he doesn’t even own a car. Instead, he prefers to bike around Brooklyn.
“The great thing is it’s healthy competition,” Grenier explains. “We’re all trying.”
“Who’s greener?” Posner interjects. “That’s what we get macho about.”
As they take turns interrupting each other at the hem of the Astroturf-cum-eco-friendly-entry carpet, The Honey Brothers seem something like the Lost Boys in Peter Pan, surprised to find themselves all grown up.
In a way, maybe that’s exactly what they are. When college friends Gold, Posner, and Vladeck originally started serenading pretzel stands with their ukuleles in late 2001, they were just trying to spread a little joy in a post 9-11 world defined by uncertainty. In 2002, long before Entourage, Grenier joined their ranks—or as Posner puts it, “killed us.” But pulling together their garage-style tracks to produce a record was never really on the table until 2005. That’s when, in the wake of the accidental death of original bassist Pierre Michel, the Brothers made the decision to compile and release the album Songs for Your Sister.
Fast-forward to 2010. Green had replaced Gold’s twin brother Ethan on bass, The Village Voice had likened the band’s sound to Ween and The Beach Boys, and suddenly The Honey Brothers found themselves in the studio with producer Malcolm Burn working on Time Flies Like a Peach, which they released this month at the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan.
“We’re not really brothers—you do realize that?” Posner ask, smirking, when questioned about the family dynamics that have evolved over the years. “We play around with that. But we’re friends. Very old friends.”
That said, though, they squabble and tease like siblings—and old friends—do.
“I’m the youngest brother,” Grenier says. “Young, spritely. Still got many years ahead of me. No gray hairs.”
“I’d say he’s the annoying middle one,” Posner counters, which does nothing in the way of convincing anyone that they’re not all actually related.
Gold explains it another way. “It serves as a surrogate family for all of us, I think, and it has all the crazy dynamics of a Thanksgiving dinner where everyone’s reaching for the turkey at the same time.”
“Sibling rivalries, a little bickering,” Grenier finishes. “But mostly just love.”
Perhaps it’s in the spirit of brotherly love, then, that Gold—who moonlights as a filmmaker—provided a few pictures at the end (one of which is the photo up top) of the night featuring Grenier dressed to kill in glitzy urban cowboy get-up, a replica of which is probably buried somewhere on the clearance aisle at Party City.
“I directed a film called Adventures in Power in which Adrian plays a character named Dallas Houston,” Gold says. “So he is representing Dallas in more ways than one.”
Download “Time Flies Like a Peach” on iTunes, available now for $9.99.
Top photo by Ari Gold, other photos by William Neal.
